Pfam Domains (0, 0)

Gene Ontology (8, 8)

The action characteristic of a hormone, any substance formed in very small amounts in one specialized organ or group of cells and carried (sometimes in the bloodstream) to another organ or group of cells in the same organism, upon which it has a specific regulatory action. The term was originally applied to agents with a stimulatory physiological action in vertebrate animals (as opposed to a chalone, which has a depressant action). Usage is now extended to regulatory compounds in lower animals and plants, and to synthetic substances having comparable effects; all bind receptors and trigger some biological process.

A developmental process, independent of morphogenetic (shape) change, that is required for an oocyte to attain its fully functional state. Oocyte maturation commences after reinitiation of meiosis commonly starting with germinal vesicle breakdown, and continues up to the second meiotic arrest prior to fertilization.

The space external to the outermost structure of a cell. For cells without external protective or external encapsulating structures this refers to space outside of the plasma membrane. This term covers the host cell environment outside an intracellular parasite.